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Media Distortions

Conservative media watchdog Newsbusters has turned making a left-wing bias out of a molehill into a fine art form, but their working of the ref hit something of a low today. The site is accusing CNN’s Soledad O’Brien of “overt partisanship” for accepting an “Obama Bump” from R&B legendRoberta Flack (“Obama Bump” was Flack’s term) as the network’s coverage of Whitney Houston‘s funeral tossed to a commercial break.

Here’s a clip of the “scandalous” moment, with a little bit extra of the completely apolitical context:

After CNN’s Soledad O’Brien took some heat a few weeks ago for accepting a high five from Roland Martin as congratulations for skewering Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, you’d think she be careful not to demonstrate such overt partisanship while on the air.

Just to be clear, Soledad O’Brien “took some heat a few weeks ago” from Noel Sheppard. He goes on to say:

Before breaking for a commercial, Jackson got up to shake Morgan and O’Brien’s hands saying, “We’re going to the cemetery.”

Flack then held out her fist saying, “Let’s have an Obama bump here.”

Morgan and O’Brien obliged with the latter saying, “Absolutely.”

Let me get this straight: R&B legend Roberta Flack is wrapping up a segment of remembrances at Whitney Houston’s funeral, offers Soledad O’Brien a pound, rather than a handshake, and Ms. O’Brien is supposed to do what? Spit on Roberta Flack because she called it an Obama Bump? Perhaps launch into negotiations? “I will gladly accept your departing gesture, provided you re-moniker it in a less partisan fashion.”

The next line would be comical if the entire exercise wasn’t so irreverent, so misplaced in its priorities:

As if the President and the First Lady originated this practice.

That’s a great point. How on Earth did the fist bump become so closely associated with President Obama? Oh yeah, here’s how…

Hmmm, so maybe Roberta Flack and Soledad O’Brien were making some kind of coded tribute to Fox News! Paging Media Matters!

Posting a flimsy blog item isn’t, itself, a high crime, but allowing partisan bitterness to intrude needlessly into a solemn occasion is shameful. Newsbusters should have given it a rest today.

Poynter’s Craig Silverman released his annual roundup of the year’s biggest media errors and corrections on Sunday.

The President Obama/Osama Bin Laden gaffe topped Silverman’s list for the biggest typo of 2011. In the wake of Obama’s Sunday night announcement on May 1st, media organizations scrambled to break news of Osama Bin Laden’s death. For reasons Silverman described in a piece for Columbia Journalism Review, anchors became tongue-tied and repeatedly said “Obama” when they meant to say “Osama.” Editors also committed the Obama/Osama typo, with “Obama Bin Laden” appearing in print and online media publications.

WBBM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Chicago, has come under fire in recent days for broadcasting an interview with a four-year-old boy, and deliberately taking his quote out of context to completely pervert its meaning.